Category Archives: General Management

In the previous post Welsh and White (1981) argued that just the size of small businesses creates special conditions “which can be referred to as resource poverty – that distinguishes them from their larger counterparts and requires some very different management approaches”. Small businesses usually cannot afford to pay for the professional services they need to implement… Read More »

Back in 1981, John Welsh and Jerry White wrote an article for the Harvard Business Review* using the catchy title above. For any small business it is worth a read even though it was written so long ago. The thinking at the time was that small businesses should use the same management principles as big… Read More »

Oh my goodness! You’re so busy cutting down trees you don’t have time to sharpen the axe. Sharpen the axe and the trees fall easier. It happens to us all. Even yours truly! There are good reasons why you should STOP – make time to plan ahead. “Think ahead” – has been the company motto for years. You… Read More »

Whilst how best to control a business is a complex issue and people write papers or even whole books on the topic, this post explores some of the main characteristics of a business that is in control. The final measure of success is that the business can consistently trade profitably. You cannot get around the fact that… Read More »

The idea behind this blog is to engage business owners in a conversation about techniques, methods, tricks, systems and other tools that help with the challenging task of managing a small to medium sized business. During my past and present consulting assignments I come across interesting adaptations of known good management practices. After all …… Read More »